The organ tradition of St. Sulpice
dates back a long time. From
the mid 16th century we can observe the presence of an organist. Then
the well known Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers and Louis-Nicolas Clerambault
follow. But these organists served the first parrish church of St.
Sulpice. The current church building, built during the mid 18th century
according to the design of the architect Chalgrin, contains the
monumental organ case (also designed by Chalgrin) that we can admire to
this day. This case originally contained an instrument built in 1781 by
Clicquot, with five manuals, 64 stops, and a Montre of 32 ft. The organ
was considered one the finest organs of the French kingdom, along with
those of Saint-Martin de Tours and Notre-Dame de Paris. Thanks to the
talent of its organist, Nicolas Sejan, the instrument became celebrated
throughout Europe.

During the 19th century, the
famous organ builder Aristide
Cavaille-Coll constructed a new instrument that conserved much of the
previous organ, with the intention of realizing the union of the "older
art with the new." Thus the Grand-Orgue of St. Sulpice, one of the
three "100 stop" European organs accompanied by Ulm Cathedral (Walcker)
and Liverpool Cathedral (Willis), rapidly became admired throughout the
world. Professor Adolphe Hesse of Breslau, a noted performer of Bach
who had visited the organ just after its completion, wrote: "I must
declare that of all of the instruments that I have seen, examined, and
played, that of St. Sulpice is the most perfect, harmonious, largest,
and really the master work of modern organ building."

In 1863, the brilliant virtuoso
Lefebure-Wely was nominated
organist. He was succeeded in 1870 by Charles-Marie Widor who was only
26 years old. Nominated with the title as a "temporary organist," he
was never given the official title of "titular" during his 63 year
presence at St. Sulpice! He resigned on the 31 December 1933, handing
the post over to Marcel Dupre, another great figure in the organ world.
Dupre died during the afternoon of the Pentecote in 1971 after playing
for the mass that morning. He was succeeded by his student,
Jean-Jacques Grunenwald, another great musician who would only hold the
post for ten years. These artists, with high regard for Cavaille-Coll's
work, had left the instrument intact; such was not the fate of many of
his other instruments, which more or less have been modified during the
first half of the 20th century.

In fact, this instrument should
not be viewed as that of a
romantic-symphonic style, which many may suggest. Instead, the creater
desired an instrument where the classic tradition and the new romantic
style are intimately linked!